"Cough, cough… You don't think the Whitebeard Pirates are going to stand us up, do you?"
Yasopp, his face pale, coughed while pouring extremely strong rum straight down his throat. Ever since he was severely injured by a single kick from Kizaru during the Marineford War, the man—who once drank with moderation—now had to rely on strong liquor just to numb the pain.
"Don't worry. Marco said they'd come… Ah, is it acting up again?"
Ben Beckman, two revolvers tucked at his waist, walked over and casually tossed an unopened bottle of hard liquor to Jesus Burgess.
Since losing his right arm, Beckman had replaced his usual rifle with two easily reloadable revolvers. The new weapons weren't as familiar as his old buddy, but his combat ability hadn't dropped drastically.
"That's fine — now I can drink a little more, haha… cough cough!"
Jesus Burgess laughed it off, then broke into a violent fit of coughing. As a top sniper, when Jesus put everything into a shot, even Yonko or Marine Admirals couldn't wholly ignore it. But his constitution was clearly the weak point compared to his fearsome firepower. Even a kick from Kizaru that wasn't delivered wholeheartedly still left him with injuries that would be hard to fully heal.
Fortunately, the Red-Haired crew's ship doctor was excellent; otherwise whether Jesus would still be alive was a real question, and some lasting damage was unavoidable.
"I'll go fetch Hongo!"
Beckman frowned and prepared to call the ship's doctor to treat Jesus.
"Cough… it's useless… this wound is a lost cause. Don't bother Hongo over it…"
Jesus waved him off. He knew how serious the injuries were—no matter how skilled Hongo might be, he couldn't repair organs shattered by top-tier Armament Haki.
"…Wait until Marco gets here and have him take a look."
Beckman fell silent for a moment, but didn't give up. He used to think he could endure anything, but after seeing comrades fall one by one in the Summit War, he'd realized he wasn't as indestructible as he had believed.
"Don't worry — before I return that kick to Kizaru with this bullet, I'm not going down that easily!"
Jesus Burgess squeezed a single bullet threaded on his necklace and showed a grim smile. Since he'd sailed with Shanks, he'd never taken such a beating. For himself and for the dead comrades, Jesus had resolved to exact revenge on Kizaru.
Beckman stared blankly at the bullet in Jesus's hand, then remembered: that was the bullet that Laki Lu hadn't had time to fire during the Summit War.
"…Count me in when the time comes!"
A memory of faces long gone made Beckman inhale deeply; he spoke with quiet determination.
"Me too!"
"You can't leave me out of that!"
"We Red-Haired Pirates will take our revenge together!"
At Beckman's words, a crowd of crewmates popped up from every corner as if on cue — nobody seemed sure where they'd been hiding.
"Hey, hey, hey! We agreed on a feast, but you all ran off — what's that about? And I'm the captain here; it's my duty to take revenge for the crew, isn't it?!"
Shanks jumped down from the tree, grabbed Beckman by the neck with one hand, and shook him vigorously.
He was not the type to suffer losses quietly. If Marine Headquarters hadn't remained unusually still after the end of the Paramount War, Shanks would have already taken action to get revenge.
"Hahahaha! Since everyone's here, why don't we just start a banquet right here?"
Yasopp laughed. Adventure and feasting were indispensable parts of a pirate's life.
"Ooooh! A banquet!"
"I'll go get the booze!"
"Hahaha! I'll help!"
…
The Red-Haired Pirates echoed cheerfully, laughing as if they hadn't just been shouting about revenge a moment ago.
"Wait! If everyone's here… then who's receiving the Whitebeard Pirates on their side?"
Beckman had been smiling the whole time as he watched Shanks and Yasopp drape themselves over each other's shoulders, but gradually, his smile stiffened.
"Huh?"
Shanks froze, turning to look at Yasopp, then at the others. Every single one of them wore the same blank expression.
Boom!
At that moment, a bright plume of fire rose from the other side of the island, illuminating the dark, deserted island under the night sky.
Seeing this, Shanks let out a squawk of alarm and immediately bolted toward the source of the flames.
"You big idiots!"
Beckman could only follow after him, half amused and half exasperated, running toward the opposite side of the island.
By the time the Red-Haired Pirates returned to what was supposed to be their camp, Ace and the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates had already been waiting for quite a while. Standing at the front was the current captain of the Whitebeard Pirates—Fire Fist Ace!
Compared to the Red-Haired Pirates, who had suffered significant losses, the Whitebeard Pirates had actually come out of the Paramount War with relatively minor casualties. After absorbing several allied crews, their numbers had even increased.
But Whitebeard's death was a wound that would never heal for the crew.
Although Ace had taken up the role of captain at Marco's persuasion, neither the flag nor the name of the Whitebeard Pirates had changed.
Ace had even taken to wearing a white coat like Whitebeard, as if trying to keep their father's presence alive within the crew forever.
If Marco hadn't insisted, Ace didn't even want the crew to call him captain. To Ace, the Whitebeard Pirates would forever have only one captain—their old man.
"Hey! Isn't this way too rude? You called us all the way out here, and there wasn't even anyone to greet us!"
Seeing Shanks and his crew finally show up, Marco complained irritably.
If not for the fact that they had fought side by side during the Paramount War—and the Red-Haired Pirates had helped cover their retreat—they would never have so easily accepted Shanks' invitation to meet.
Ever since Whitebeard's death, pirates in the New World had begun eyeing the Whitebeard Pirates' territory. Ace, as the newly appointed captain, lacked the deterrence needed to intimidate all the ambitious rivals. During this short period of meeting with the Red-Haired Pirates, who knew how many islands they were losing?
"Ahahaha, sorry, sorry—ran into a little trouble on the way…"
Shanks didn't look down on them just because Whitebeard's crew had a new captain. Only a few months had passed since the Paramount War, but Ace already felt different to him.
Ace still had a long way to go before reaching the level of a top-class powerhouse, but he was no longer inferior to Marco.
"What did you call us here for, Red Hair?"
Ace asked calmly. Though he had not fully recovered from the grief of losing his father, he had shouldered the duty of captain of the Whitebeard Pirates and was fulfilling that role well.
"Ah, there's an opportunity now. If you're willing to join in, you might even get the chance to avenge Whitebeard…"
Shanks grinned. Unlike the World Government, blind to what was happening, he—standing outside the system—had vaguely noticed a hidden figure behind the shifting tides.
In the past, Shanks would have been thinking about maintaining balance on the seas.
But after the Paramount War—after watching his longtime companions die one after another at Kizaru's hands—Shanks wanted only one thing:
To settle the score with Kizaru.
Even if the end result plunged the world into chaos, Shanks didn't care. He was, after all, the freest pirate.
Fwoom!
Flames erupted fiercely from Ace's body. The previously lifeless Whitebeard Pirates suddenly raised their heads.
"…You just said there's a chance to avenge Pops?"
Ace stared at Shanks, eyes burning. Even now, he couldn't forget the sight of Whitebeard dying at Marineford.
What tormented him most was that it all happened because he lost to Blackbeard and fell into Marine custody, forcing Pops to attack Marine Headquarters to rescue him.
And the cruelest part—he, the one responsible, survived… while Pops fell in battle.
If Marco hadn't forcibly persuaded him to take the captain's mantle, Ace would have rushed out long ago to fight Kizaru to the death.
"Yeah. But there's no way you can do it alone… so, how about teaming up? Let's take revenge on the Marines together."
Shanks extended his hand to Ace. Though he still didn't fully understand Kizaru's true goal, once he sensed that Mary Geoise's upheaval was connected to Kizaru, he began preparing to intervene.
"Do you even have to ask? Of course!"
Ace grabbed Shanks' hand without hesitation, not even looking to Marco for approval.
Fortunately, none of the Whitebeard Pirates objected. Even Marco—normally the cautious one—simply wanted to hear the details of this "opportunity" so they could maximize their chances of avenging Whitebeard.
"Then it's settled! Before we officially set out, let's have a banquet to celebrate!"
A smile reappeared on Shanks' face. Even without Whitebeard, the Whitebeard Pirates were still one of the strongest crews in the New World.
Combined with the Red-Haired Pirates, no matter what happened at Mary Geoise, their arrival could change the final outcome.
Once he uncovered Kizaru's plan, Shanks fully intended to give that bastard a painful lesson.
"You really are obsessed with banquets…"
Ace muttered, unable to hold back his comment. But celebrations before and after battles were a pirate tradition—he wasn't going to dampen everyone's spirits.
Seeing both captains reach an agreement, the Red-Haired Pirates immediately burst into cheers.
"Hahaha! It's banquet time!"
"You guys really are lively… let me help too."
"Come to think of it, it's been a while since we've had a proper feast…"
…
The Whitebeard Pirates quickly blended into the cheerful atmosphere. Marco wanted to ask Shanks for more details, but Beckman pulled him aside to help examine and treat Yasopp's injuries.
As the user of the Bird-Bird Fruit: Model Phoenix, Marco's healing abilities were among the strongest in the New World—even Kaido coveted them.
°°°
If you want to read ahead and access 20 advanced chapters, check the patreon
Link: Patreon/Moziel
Subscription should be made thru the web and never the ios app, it helps you and me.